The attack, launched by
Sir William
Birdwood's 1st Australian Division of 4,600 men (from 1st, 2nd and 3rd
Brigades), was chiefly intended to draw attention away from the key
diversionary attack at Sari Bair. It was directed against the
so-called 'Lone Pine' position in Turkish hands some 100 metres above Anzac
Cove - thus a key target on 6 August 1915 given the planned mass landings
intended for Anzac Cove the same day.

Opening on the evening of 6
August at 5.30pm the attack developed into a ferocious hand-to-hand assault
ultimately spanning five days. Attacking with the sun at their back
(and thus with the sun in the Turkish defenders' eyes) the Australians were
astonished to find the Turkish trenches covered with logs and earth.

Effectively brought to a
halt while they searched for a means of entering the Turkish trenches, the
Turk defenders were presented with point-blank targets; the Australians
suffered significant initial casualties, a pattern that continued on both
sides.

Having finally gained
entrance to the Turk lines via communication trenches, and with the log
covers heaved off the front trench by persistent Australian troops, a fierce
hand-to-hand battle was conducted, often in virtual darkness. Such was
the nature of the fighting that there was often insufficient room to use
either bayonet or grenades: instead fighting was conducted using fists and
bayonet swords.

Within half an hour - 6pm -
the trench line was in Australian hands and the Lone Pine position secured
two days later. Wave after wave of diminishing Turkish counter-attacks
were subsequently launched, lasting some five days in total.

Casualties were heavy,
10,000 in total (7,000 Turkish, 3,000 Australian). Of these some 9,000
comprised fatalities. The Lone Pine action remains notorious to the
present day. Seven
Victoria Crosses were awarded to the Australian
force as a consequence of fighting at Lone Pine.

Unfortunately for the
Allies the attack upon Line Pine proved far less diversionary than intended,
for the Turkish reserves drafted in to defend Lone Pine were subsequently
better placed to rush to the Sari Bair range once its importance became
clearer.

To view maps detailing the
progress of the Gallipoli campaign click
here; and
here; and
here; and
here.